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3 March 2015

Here's how it works: The Recent Releases chart brings together critical reaction to new albums from more than 50 sources worldwide. It's updated daily. Albums qualify with 5 reviews, and drop out after 6 weeks into the longer timespan charts.

8.0 |
Mojo

8.0 |
Evening Standard

7.5 |
Beats Per Minute

The album as a whole isn’t flawless, yet by sounding utterly enchanting during its climax it leaves a listener feeling genuinely touched. From a such legendary band, you could ask for nothing more
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7.042345

7.0 |
Pop Matters

Not a top-tier Beach Boys album. But it’s neither a reach nor hyperbole to say this final suite is among the strongest, most affecting music Wilson has ever recorded. It seems right that his old bandmates are a part of it
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7.042369

7.0 |
DIY

Whilst this might not be what God actually made the radio for, if this record turns out to actually be their swansong, then it's a far more fitting end to the story than 'Stars And Stripes Volume 1' ever would have been
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7.042484

7.0 |
Consequence Of Sound

An immensely satisfying and interesting outing from a group long thought to have transformed into a living jukebox. It’s better than it has any right to be, and that’s a wonderful contradiction in itself
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6.042487

6.0 |
Paste Magazine

While Radio does find the good ol’ boys harmonizing together again (with a subtle sweetness that effortlessly recalls their glory days), it’s a Beach Boys album only because Wilson willed it to be
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6.042501

6.0 |
The Arts Desk

Encapsulates all that’s good and all that’s bad about The Beach Boys
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6.0 |
The Guardian

6.0 |
music OMH

As mixed a bag as their latest offering is, you can't help but feel that, like Calippos, The Beach Boys will forever be an intrinsic part of summer
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6.042721

6.0 |
Rave Magazine

It won’t stand up to their best work, but it could comfortably slot next to patchy mid-‘70s efforts like Surf’s Up or Sunflower
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5.842423

5.8 |
A.V. Club

The album summons up some of the old magic when the group gets ambitious on the three-song album-closing suite
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5.042407

5.0 |
Uncut

Even Wilson's melancholy feels calculated. Print edition only

5.042564

5.0 |
BBC

Whereas once this was a group whose effervescence gave their music the sparkle of life, today The Beach Boys are merely slick and anodyne
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5.042297

5.0 |
Drowned In Sound

It isn’t terrible or embarrassing, it is just a bit safe, and subsequently washed over me. Saying that, it does contain the odd spark and flicker of life
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5.044927

5.0 |
Under The Radar

In the end, That's Why God Made the Radio isn't a bad album. It's just not the album everyone wanted. And, if the final third of the album is any indication, it's not even the best album this collection of musicians can make
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